Stocks indexes end higher on Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP) — Stock indexes are ending higher on Wall Street as traders hope that the Federal Reserve won’t move quickly to pull back on its economic stimulus.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index ended up nine points at 1,640 Monday, an increase of 0.6 percent. It wavered between gains and losses in early trading, then turned higher in the last hour.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 138 points at 15,254, a gain of 0.9 percent. Merck had one of the biggest gains in the Dow after reporting encouraging clinical results in a skin-cancer treatment.